One Night Only
by sessely
Summary: She was unhappily married to a man who was not able to cope with her. She needed freedom – he held her in a cage he called home. She never wanted to be a housewife and mother only – but he didn't support her to restart her job and take on her career. He said "everything is fine" – she cried nearly every day.


Hej guys

I know you are possibly waiting for the next chapter on Rising from the Ashes-I'm working on that.

Here is now a new story that wouldn't let my mind rest until I share it with you…

If you don't like what I write than please keep it to yourself, else you are free to leave a review

Hugs and Kisses from a recovering Sessely

**One Night Only**

_It was supposed to be just one night. One night after a long time of suffering to bath in his attention, to not be drowned in duties, and to fulfill desires long kept at distance…._

_But since when does a plan work the way one wants it to?_

She was unhappily married to a man who was not able to cope with her.

She needed freedom – he held her in a cage he called _home._

She never wanted to be a housewife and mother only – but he didn't support her to restart her job and take on her career.

He said "everything is fine" – she cried nearly every day.

She became a person she never wanted to be: quiet, not talking to man, afraid of doing something wrong and therefore she did nearly everything so that her husband wasn't screaming at her and her son so often.

It took several month up to nearly two years and lots of talks with her only friend by then to recognize that things wouldn't chance despite her trying to talk to her husband, his friends and family with the goal to rebuild trust and love in their relationship. But it was useless. He didn't accept that there were problems and that she wasn't happy with the marriage they were supposed to share until the end…

Her soul splinters into tiny pieces day by day, and slowly cut her heart.

Sex became a necessity to keep her husband at least a little happy. But as is customary with things she HAD to do without really wanting to, it shattered her even more. Holding on the tears until he was finished and then sprinting to the bathroom to cry from heartache and bleed from his ragged doings. But she still hold on to the thought that every marriage has its ups and downs and that it soon would start to climb again…

It was a typical day for her when she really recognized that she was finally falling apart – fast.

Bringing her son to the day care center was the nearly the best part of her day. She could talk with some adults which were no friends to her husband or family. They were unbiased. They just knew her being a nice, socially engaged, mother and wife. Talks with the staff got longer and longer the more she was inwardly shattering and nearly constantly on the rim of crying.

Never were they talking of what was troubling her, even though they could now see that something was amiss. She wouldn't want to talk about it eventually as she knew that other people have a lot on their plate themselves. So they stayed on the surface when talking until one morning teardrops ran down her face as she gave her son to his kindergarten teacher. He was shocked to see her in such a state as he only knew her as a woman which held her head high and her composure confident no matter the circumstances.

"Do you want to talk about it?" he asked her which made her look like a deer caught in headlights. She swiftly shook her head no and left the house after saying goodbye to her son – smiling.

Just a few minutes later her mobile phone rang announcing her of new messages.

_Monday 8.47_

_Damon: Are you all right? _

_Damon: You looked broken…_

_Hermione: Nothing's up_

_Damon: Can I help you?_

_Hermione: No._

_Damon: You wanna talk about it?_

_Hermione: I don't see why it is of any interest to you_

_Damon: Because you are 'of interest' to me._

She didn't reply for several days and tried to stay out of his sight for the rest of the week.

_Friday 14.52_

_Damon: Are you okay?_

_Hermione: Honestly?_

_Damon: Yes, totally so_

_Hermione: I'm not okay in the slightest_

From then on they started writing every day for hours. Together they tried to come up with ideas how to make her husband recognize what's going wrong and what steps to tale to change everything for the better.

She tried everything – but nothing seemed to work. The more she tried, the more she had the feeling he was doing things she detests: he often came home late at night – drunk, smelling and angry. The mornings after he was horny like a teenager, this is if he was not suffering from self-inflicted hangover. But he was smelling that awfully of alcohol and other things she couldn't identify to the point of making her sick. Hence no sex which made him angry – again. Another example is that he did not allow her to meet her friends which led to quitting friendships.

It were many drops like that which filled her kettle up to the brim until it boiled over!

On some days, she simply wanted to run away. Hide somewhere and never go back to her husband who neglected her. This was when she started running through the nearby woods. During the four to five kilometers she ran every second day she was able to be free for a little while. Once in a while she would just sit on a bench by the small lake on her route and watch the life in the forest. When she was supposed to go home her heart was heavy and her soul crying about what would await her there: dirty dishes, a crying child (because his father was not able to take care of him), bottles of beer in front of her TV watching husband.

Hence, she had to clean up, sing her son to sleep and act happily because her husband was so kind to allow her to go out for a run while he would watch after their son…

Yes, it was breathtaking arrogance. She hated such behavior and she never thought that she would end up with such a selfish bastard.

He never hurt her physically, but harming ones soul can hurt so much more than a punch…

After several weeks of running alone in the forest she told Damon about her new habit and that she would wish for some nice company. To her joy he immediately jumped on the idea and bought a pair of running shoes. They fell in a pattern easily. Running twice a week if time and weather would allow and afterwards writing until they fell asleep.

One day they set up a movie night. She didn't tell her husband prior to dinner

"I'm going to a friend tonight for a movie. You'll have to bring Michael to bed."

His face went red with anger "Which friend? You've NONE!"

"Damon. You might know him from Michael's kindergarten." Hermione said while putting her plate away

"I don't know him. What is that all about?"

"You'd know him if you would pick up your son from time to time."

With those words having said she stood from the table and went to the bathroom to apply a little eyeshadow and mascara. She nearly never leaves the house without it. Reentering the dining room she kissed her son good night and left.

She started the engine of her husband's car and was proud of herself to really go out that night. Because meeting with Damon outside of work was really hard as his girlfriend is a clingy, jealous, stupid, disloyal, selfish person. Hence: She didn't know that Hermione so much as existed as Damon kept their friendship a secret. She would never have allowed him a movie night with a friend without her – all the more with a woman!

The odds were in their favor tonight as Damons girlfriend was visiting her mom and was supposed to stay over night.

As she now was driving to his flat, the radio was playing a new version of "The Sound of Silence". It was such a beautiful song that he had to tell her friend about it as soon as she entered.

"I know the song already" he said happily

"Oh! Why is that? In the radio they said it was an on-air premiere"

"I've got the album. It's of my favorite band"

Both smiled brightly at the other

It was always like that with the two of them. They shared interests, took the same liking in Marvel Movies (Hermione of course read the comics before the movies were produced) and even in some music as it seemed. For tonight they planned on watching something from the Avengers series. So they sat on the sofa and had a great time following and analyzing the movie.

It was irritating to her that Damon sat on the absolute opposite end of the sofa and downright clawed at his trousers.

"You okay Damon?"

"Hm? Yeah 'course. Just exhausted from the long day"

"If you'd come over here I could give you a small head massage. I always found those quite relaxing"

"Found?"

"Yes, found. There's no one giving me one nowadays. End of topic"

"Hm" was all he answered while strangely watching Hermione from his seat. A few minutes later he laid down with his feet dangling off the sofa. He didn't need to say anything because Hermione just let her fingers run through his curly haut while both kept on watching the movie. It was an innocent caress which Damon enjoyed humming quietly until he fell asleep under her ministration.

She left on tip toes while the end titles rolled over the screen to put her boots and leather jacket on when warm, strong arms wrapped around her waist

"You're leaving without saying Good Night?"

"Yes sleepyhead. I didn't want to wake you"

"I didn't sleep, I enjoyed"

"Snoring?" she had to laugh at his embarrassed face. As he let go of her she finally put her jacket on and turned to leave

"No hug?" Sometime she behaved like a puppy hungry for attention

"Come here you cuddlebear" she said and hugged him like so many times before only that today Damon hugged her stronger and seemed to not want to let her go. She patted him on the back and slowly pushed him away.

"Have a good night's rest Damon and thank you for the nice evening"

He just nodded and led her to the door.

One minute later Hermione sat in the car and checked her phone. Three messages and a call from her husband all asking when she would finally be home. Her heart ached and her brain told her to be strong and face his anger better sooner than later. A tear fell from her eye when her phone rang again signaling an incoming message.

_Damon: I liked the way your hands were moving"_

She was shocked! Was Damon really flirting with her?

_Damon: And I liked to be near to you. You smell so delicious"_

He definitely was flirting

_Damon: You felt so good against me when I hugged you"_

She didn't know what to reply. She always saw him as a friend and thought, as he was in a relationship as well, that he felt the same. As it seemed she was gravely mistaken.

_Damon: You're not answering…. Have I said the wrong thing?_

_Hermione: I'm home now. Can't write 'til morning. Good Night"_

She needed to think. She needed to face Victor first and she needed to calm herself down. For in a long time nobody said anything likewise lovely and flirtatious to her than Damon did right now.

And oh how she had missed such small things.

To be continued


End file.
